Call for Submissions: Poetry That Reaches Beyond

Firmament: Poetry at the Edge of Knowing – Volume 11 in The Broken Spine’s Slimlines Poetry Anthology Series

Submissions Open Throughout April 2026 | Publication Later That Year

This is the hush between cries. The breath before the descent. The poem you read when the signal goes silent.

In a series built on protest, presence, and poetic urgency, Firmament stands apart, not as an escape, but as elevation. This is where the Slimlines stretch toward the metaphysical. Not to soften the world’s sharp edges, but to recalibrate the scale. To ask what it means to be tiny. To be temporary. To be staring up, not out.

I’m not turning away from the world; I’m asking what lies beyond it.

This will be the penultimate Slimline in the series. And it might well be the most expansive.

What I’m Looking For

I’m seeking poetry that deals in sky, space, silence, religion, transcendence, and scale; not as mood lighting, but as tools for existential inquiry. This is for poems that ask:

• What becomes of the self at cosmic scale?
• What lies beyond language, certainty, and history?
• How do we reach beyond the political without denying its gravity?
• Where does wonder end, and where does awe become terror?

Your poems should be:

• Metaphysical, spiritual, or philosophical in tone
• Informed by science or astronomy, but never dictated by them
• Restless about belief, distance, time, mortality
• Unafraid of abstraction, but grounded in human stakes
• Written with clarity, control, and an awareness of scale

What I’m Not Looking For

Please don’t send:

• Literal or overly descriptive poems about stars, clouds, or night skies
• Escapist poems that abandon the lived in world instead of examining it
• Science fiction narratives with no existential or emotional weight
• Work that treats the sky as a postcard instead of a question
• Fantasy, space operas, or planets with plot

This is not about merely looking up. This is about reaching beyond.

Submission guidelines

• Submissions open 1 April, close 30 April 2026
• Submit up to 2 poems
• A5 page size only
• Times New Roman, 10pt, single-spaced
• Titles must be bolded and italicised
• Left-aligned only, justified text will be rejected
• White space welcome; no shape poems
• No identifying info in the file, blind submissions only
• Work posted on social media is fine; work published elsewhere is not

Submission fee and what it supports

A £3 submission fee is required. This pays for:

• Cover design by someone who gets the aesthetic
• Canva, Zoom, social scheduling tools
• Contributor copies for those in financial hardship
• Keeping the press alive so we can publish work that doesn’t kiss the ring

I don’t take a cut from submissions. The money goes back into the work.

Contributors will be offered copies at 50% of the cover price.

Submit Here

If selected

You’ll receive:

• A PDF of the collection
• Promo artwork to spread like a sticker on a lamppost
• Access to The Broken Spine’s Past Contributor Directory
• 50% off contributor copies

Timeline

• Submissions open 1 April 2026
• Submissions close 30 April 2026
• Contributors notified soon after
• Publication scheduled for 2026
• More details as the revolution unfolds

Editorial Note

Firmament is not a soft theme. It’s a shift in perspective. A heightening. An anthology that looks upward, not inward.

Other Slimlines have stood firmly in the street. This one takes the elevator to the roof and stares out into the dark.

Not to run. But to understand what we’re standing on.

If you’ve followed the series, you’ll know every volume has teeth. This one has silence. Space. Distance. It’s the biggest in scope, but it’s still Slimline in spirit.

I’ll be reading in April 2026. Make it vast. Make it precise. Make it matter.